Politics and current events
Politics and current events. Who is the president of what is now the United States? What’s s/he like? Who’s vice-president? Has the U.S. broken up? Appended any new territories or 51+ states? How popular is the president? What are currently the biggest issues in politics? What political scandals are in the news? Do people generally trust their government? Is the U.S. still a Democrat/Republican system, or have the major player parties changed, with perhaps a switch from first-past-the-post? Does the U.S. still go by the electoral college? Has the government we know now in the United States been overthrown or radically changed by a revolution? What parties hold majorities in the House, the Senate, or whatever new bodies replace them? Which countries are at war with which countries? Is there an active draft, or have most countries abolished conscription? Are there more megalo-nations such as the EU (a Canada-US-Mexico union, perhaps?) Is there one-world government? How are the poor taken care oe? What economic system (socialism, communism, capitalism, anarcho-syndicalism, etc.) is currently practiced in the country your story takes place in? Are Social Security and Medicare still around as we know them, still around albeit radically reformed, or completely scrapped? What generations are dominant in the government? What Supreme Court cases have been ruled in what is now the U.S. between now and then? What constitutional amendments have been added? How strong is the rule of corporations in the world? How do the economics of the music industry work? Has copyright/intellectual property law changed since 2014? What is the minimum wage? Does the government fund artists? How strong are environmental protections? Is the balance slanted more towards civil liberties, or more towards security? What drugs are legal and illegal? Is discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals still legal? How patriotic are people in the various countries active in the story? Is it illegal to burn the flag? What are the legal ages for voting, using legal drugs, working, driving a car, having sex, signing a contract, getting a credit card, giving or withholding medical consent, getting pierced or tattooed, being free of one’s parents’ rules? Is racial profiling still around? Do aliens have the same rights and responsibilities as humans? Do AI’s have rights? What about cryogenically frozen zombies who have been brought back from the dead? Are the cops corrupt? Do people – young and older – trust the police? How high is voter turnout? Is voting mandatory for all voting-age citizens of the nation? Do people still own land? What do people think about nudity and female toplessness? What social norms are still active, and which have died? How tolerant are people of LGBT people, vegetarians, Scientologists, people who practice bodily mutilation, conlangers, nerds, epileptics, etc.? What are the predominant political and social beliefs of the different generations? How does healthcare work, and has medical treatment become unaffordable? What mass murders, environmental/natural disasters, family law cases, trials and executions, etc. are currently in the news? On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump takes office as forty-fifth president of the United States. Most young Americans are convinced that democracy is broken. Over the next several days, radical Americans plot an overthrow of the White House together through email, fora, letters, and Anonymous (the Internet site). Then, thousands of Americans storm the White House and oust Donald Trump and all of Congress, making a new oligarchic, non-elected government and appointing a twentysomething Millennial boy named Brandon Zuniga as the new president. Zuniga lowers the voting age, age of majority and age of emancipation to 16, makes parental tyranny a crime, legalizes marijuana everywhere, legalizes hard drugs, scraps "disorderly conduct" laws and other blanket crimes, institutes jury reform, imposes new environmental protection, taxes the hell out of corporations, reforms intellectual property law, repeals the Eighth Amendment and Constitutional ban on ex post facto laws, and arrests, tries, convicts and executes thousands of police officers from the old regime. He calls for scientific investigation into life-o-suction, and it is invented before his second term is over. Zuniga's party is called the Revolution Party (or "Revvies"). The two parties are now the Revvies and the GOP. LeGrand becomes president in 2024, after Zuniga decides to step down for a two-party election and the Republicans win the election, thanks to Americans upset with Revvie changes. The president of the United States is Rutherford LeGrand, who is running for reëlection this year. LeGrand wants to disestablish Communism in North Korea, and disdains North Korean president Ahn Soon-Yi. He also wants anti-drug education in elementary schools, and is trying to deny adoption rights to same-sex couples, despite the universal legality of gay marriage in America. A major issue is the loss of jobs by humans due to automated employees, which LeGrand defends these automated employees in the name of capitalism and free enterprise. Union leader Miguel Ortiz is one of his most outspoken critics. 34% of Americans say they approve of LeGrand’s job as president, and 61% disapprove. LeGrand has taken money from Ryan Ferrell, “that lord of oral sex and enough sodas to make him a blimp”, as has Lyndsay Spelt, who is running in the Democratic primaries this year. Spelt wants free education for illegal immigrants. There was a former president named Zuniga. The voting age is 16, as is the age at which you break free from your parents’ rules. In criminal justice, life-o-suction (see Technology) is used to take years off the life of a juror and add them onto that of a person whom she or he falsely convicted. It is legal to urinate in public. Most younger people (under 50) are OK with homosexuality and bisexuality. People wear striped polos, rather than dress shirts and suits, to job interviews. Shopkeepers may no longer kick people out of their stores “for being too loud”. Drugs are legal in the United States (and in Cuba). Reagan’s face is now on an unspecified denomination of money.